An Oyo State High Court sitting in Ibadan and presided over by Justice Bayo Taiwo on January 28, 2025, sentenced a former staff of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Olayiwola Oguntade to five years imprisonment over fraud.
The Ibadan Zonal Directorate of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had on October 13, 2020 arraigned Oguntade on a three-count amended charge bordering on forgery, advance fee fraud, and obtaining by false pretence the sum amounting to N10 million.
The anti-graft agency disclosed this in a statement on its official Facebook Page..
Count one stated: “That you, Olayiwola Oguntade sometimes in 2010 at Ibadan within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court with intent to defraud obtained the sum of N10,000,000.00 (Ten Million Naira) only, by false pretence through Kola Al-Amin from Polybadan Microfinance Bank Ltd and thereby committed an offence of obtaining money by false pretence, contrary to Section 1 (i)(b) and 1 (3) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Related Offences Act, 2006.”
The second count accused Oguntade of forging a Local Purchase Order (LPO) titled “Re: Supply of Internet Services,” purportedly issued by JAMB on October 15, 2010.
This act was deemed a violation of Section 467 of the Criminal Code Law Cap 38, Laws of Oyo State, 2000.
Oguntade pleaded “not guilty” to the charges, leading to a trial that lasted over four years.
Prosecution counsel Oyelakin Oyediran and Lanre Suleiman called 10 witnesses and tendered several incriminating documents that were admitted as evidence.
In convicting the defendant, Justice Taiwo held that the prosecution proved its case beyond reasonable doubt “and the court is convinced that the defendant is guilty of the offences filed against him by the EFCC.”
The convict who was a former staff in JAMB’s Finance and Accounts Department had forged the LPO and a Letter of Domiciliation to fraudulently secure a N10 million loan from Polybadan Microfinance Bank, under the false claim of executing a JAMB-awarded internet services contract.
Prosecution alleged that to execute the fraud, Oguntade gave the forged documents to a friend, K. Ola Al-Amin who is a customer of the Microfinance bank to help him present them to the bank and in his own (Al-Amin’s) name.
“Deceived by the convict, Al-Amin secured the loan with the forged documents and also helped him transfer the sum to three different companies’ bank accounts, namely: Reeden Investment Limited, Danmarg Multiventures Company and Enrich System Nigeria Limited, provided to him by the convict on the pretext that the sums were payments to the companies for equipment and installations for the purported internet services.
Oguntade was also discovered during investigation to previously issued forged LPOs to these companies and used the fraudulently obtained N10 million to settle existing debts.
In the ruling, the court did not also give the convict an option of fine after the sentencing as he was whisked to the Nigerian Correctional Centre to serve his jail term.
